This invention relates to apparatus and a method for attaching tags to merchandise and especially to an apparatus and method for presenting tags in a manner for affixation to merchandise. More particularly, the invention relates to presenting tags intermittently for twist tie ribbon attachment to merchandise; and in its ideal application, the invention relates to an apparatus and method effecting the combined presentation and twist tie affixation (attachment) of tags to merchandise.
Insofar as is known, the affixation of marking tags by means of a twist tie to merchandise, without the marking tag being a part of the twist tie ribbon structure, has not heretofore been successfully practiced to any significant commercial extent. The difficulty lies in presenting a marking tag in an intermittent manner and in a position suitable for intermittent machine application of a twist tie ribbon about not only the tag but also the neck of a bag or the like. Interference with twist tie machine operation must be avoided, and yet the tag, if it is to be held to a bag by twist tie ribbon, must be presented in a position to be embraced by the twist tie ribbon as the twist tie ribbon is placed around the neck of the bag. Additionally, however, the reliability of the tag as a marker requires avoidance of mutilation, especially mutilation of any part of the tag dealing with or carrying a machine readable or scannable code, as is so often required nowadays in view of the intense marketplace competition and the need for economy in all handling steps in the channels of marketing. To the extent known, no one has heretofore solved the several aforementioned problems with the mechanical simplicity and uniqueness offered by the teachings of this invention.